Tropical Storm Joaquin forms off East Coast

The National Hurricane Center said at 8 a.m. Wednesday that Joaquin’s sustained winds had hit 75 miles per hour, which is the point where a tropical storm becomes a hurricane.

Hurricane Joaquin strengthened to a category 3 Wednesday evening as it approached the central islands of the Bahamas, following a projected track that would take it near the U.S. East Coast by the weekend.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami was to send a plane aloft Wednesday to gather data about Joaquin that will hopefully “get those models into better agreement”, said Rick Knabb, the center’s director.

Additional strengthening is expected, and Joaquin could become a major hurricane during the next couple of days, the service said in a post on its Facebook page this morning.

As of 5 p.m. EDT, a hurricane warning was in effect for the northwestern and central Bahamas, a hurricane watch was broadcasted for Bimini, and a tropical storm warning was in place for the southeastern Bahamas.

If Hurricane Joaquin does move closer to our area, we’ll see many inches of rain and strong gusts of wind.

Joaquin is the third hurricane of the 2015 Atlantic season, which began in June and ends in November.

Even without a strike by Joaquin, the U.S. East Coast has been drenched by heavy downpours.

A turn toward the northwest and a decrease in forward speed are forecast Thursday or Thursday night.

The “real answer” is not going to come until the storm stops moving to the southwest and makes its turn to the north. That will be late tomorrow night into Friday.

“The forecast of up to 10 inches of rain in areas across Virginia could result in floods, power outages and a serious threat to life and property”, said Governor Terry McAuliffe.

Heavy rains hit the Mid-Atlantic and New England this week, and 2 to 6 inches of rain were still expected to fall in New England on Wednesday. Actually, right now it’s more of an educated guess, because Hurricane Joaquin could throw a curveball into this weekend’s games.

The National Weather Service has issued a “Hazardous Weather Outlook” for northern New Jersey from Thursday through Tuesday.